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Unidentified gunmen have exploded Yemen's oil and gas pipelines in Shabwa province, an official at the oil and minerals ministry said on Tuesday.

The official, who asked not to be named, said the Shabwa-Bir Ali pipeline, which carries crude from Block 4 to the Bir Ali terminal, and the natural gas pipeline, which links Block 18 in Marib to the Balhaf LNG plant in Shabwa, have stopped operation after the attacks.

"The attack on the oil pipeline occurred in the notorious area of Azzan, Shabwa, and was very huge," the official added.

Earlier today, Yemen LNG confirmed that an act of sabotage had caused an explosion on the its 38 inch natural gas pipeline pipeline. The explosion occurred at 04h20 on 25 September 2012 at 35 KM North of Balhaf Liquefaction Plant, it said in a statement, but did not confirm whether the output at the Balhaf plant or the flows of the natural gas on the pipeline have been halted or not.

Yemen's oil and gas pipelines have been repeatedly attacked by tribal saboteurs and militants in the past few years leading to billions of USD in lost revenues, just as the country is struggling to return the situation to normal after the 2011 unrest deepened its economic woes.